Earlier this summer my cover story on the meaning of life (or, at least, “life”) came out in the July/August issue of Seed. Now, at long last, the Seedsters have posted the story online. Read it here.
Originally published September 5, 2007. Copyright 2007 Carl Zimmer.
“I’m an evolutionary biologist who investigates the evolution of sperm form, sperm-female interactions and sperm competition. So…yeah, it’s pretty much about sperm. Wanted to bring the concept of the homunculus to life, as all illustrations of it have always been rather cartoonish.” —Scott Pitnick, Syracuse University
The science tattoo collection now has 56 images. See the full set at flickr. Any more illustrated lurkers out there?
Originally published September 5, 2007. Copyright 2007 Carl Zimmer.
Seed Magazine, September 4, 2007
It’s hard to think of a word more charged with meaning–or meanings–than “life.” Some of the most passionate debates of our day, over stem cells or the right to die, genetically modified food, or wartime conduct, revolve around it. Whether we’re talking about when life begins or when it ends, the sanctity of life, or the danger of playing God, we all have an idea of what we mean when we talk about life. Yet, it often turns out, we actually mean different things. Scientists, despite their intimacy with the subject, aren’t exempt from this confusion.
Driving home at the end of the long weekend, I was amazed to see a tree here and there along the road with a touch of orange in its leaves. Fall already. And with fall comes another team of scientists to puzzle over why leaves change color.
I’ve been following this story for four autumns now, both in the New York Times, and in a series of blog posts (one, two, three, and four). It began with a simple question from one of the great evolutionary biologists since Darwin. William Hamilton argued that it takes a lot of energy for autumn leaves to produce the brilliant pigments that make fall so beautiful. Why bother, Hamilton asked.
I’ve been a bit of a slave to trends recently. Everybody else has a Facebook page, so I guess I need one too–even if I don’t quite know what to do with it. Myspace? Uh, okay…
As with so many things in the human experience, great or small, we are not quite alone when it comes to trend-following–as I explain in my latest column for Forbes. Check it out.
Per usual, here are some of the sources I used for the piece:
Transmission of multiple traditions within and between chimpanzee groups [free pdf]